Newsbud Exclusive- US Foreign Military Sales in March-April 2018: Part 2- Gulf Council (GCC) Countries & Other ‘Undemocratic’ Regimes

Foreign Military Sales (FMS) appear regularly on the Pentagon’s daily list of contracts. Through FMS, the U.S. government procures and transfers weaponry and matériel to allied nations and international organizations. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) issued at least $5,392,261,519 worth of FMS contracts during March and April 2018. Distillation of these contracts is presented into two parts. The first part focused on Western and Far East allies of the U.S. war industry. This part focuses on Gulf Council (GCC) countries and other undemocratic regimes.

FMS TO SAUDI ARABIA – During March and April 2018, Saudi Arabia inked contracts with the U.S. war industry for F-15 aircraft, missiles, maneuverable ships, and reconnaissance aircraft.

Boeing received $49.5 million for FMS (SaudiArabia): F-15SA equipment manufacturing. Work takes place in Khamis, Saudi Arabia, which is home to King Khalid Air Base, from which many sorties are launched against the people of Yemen. Under this contract, Boeing is training members of Saudi Arabia’s Air Force. In total, the $305 million has now been spent on this contract alone. Boeing is explicitly aiding and abetting Saudi Arabia’s war crimes.

Boeing received $64 million to restart the stand-off land attack missile - expanded response (SLAM_ER) production line for Saudi Arabia.

Lockheed Martin received $240.6 million for material to aid construction of Multi-Mission Surface Combatant (MMSC) ships for Saudi Arabia.

Lockheed Martin received $278.8 million to provide Saudi Arabia with PAC-3, including ground equipment. Lockheed Martin received $251.1 million for FMS (Saudi Arabia & Romania): PAC-3 production ‘near-term obsolescence requirements’, missile segment enhancements, command launch station, initial spares, and ‘unique costs.’ Notice the language that the war industry uses when selling these missiles. Phrases like ‘unique costs’ and ‘near-term obsolescence requirements’ are creative ways of bilking more money from the Pentagon and, ultimately, the U.S. taxpayer.

Sierra Nevada Corp. received $14 million to modify two King Air 350 extended range aircraft with advanced synthetic aperture radar capability. Includes ground stations and one mission system trainer. Here the U.S. war industry openly assists the Saudi regime in acquiring aircraft capable of spying invasively against civilians, whether Saudi dissidents or otherwise. When the Saudi people rise up against the regime, U.S. weaponry and surveillance aircraft will be used against the Saudi people. Make no mistake about it: Just as the U.S. war industry is complicit in the slaughter of Yemenis, it is also complicit in the current and future oppression of Saudi human rights activists and dissidents.

FMS TO THE ZIONIST ENTITY

On 6 April 2018, CH2M Hill Inc. received $9.5 million to provide Israel with architect & engineering services via USACE Wiesbaden, Germany. Towards the end of last ear, the global engineering giant Jacobs purchased CH2M.

Israel has a long history of purchasing construction services from the United States’ war industry. Previous deals are numerous.

Six U.S. corporations -- including perennial Pentagon favorites Conti and KBR – received nearly $50 million in June 2015 for construction work aiding the Zionist forces occupying the 1948 lands (.pdf). Nibor Enterprises, a Miami Beach firm with close ties to Israel, has built multiple projects for the Zionist entity. A joint venture between two U.S. construction firms has constructed other buildings for the Israeli military. Oxford Construction has built the Zionist occupiers a military recruitment center in Al-Jalame. (Israel also operates a vicious prison in Al-Jalame.)

In the summer of 2015, Conti started building a solar power facility for the Israeli air force. It’s worth noting that the same air force bombed Gaza’s electrical power plant during the Zionist massacre of Palestinians in the winter of 2008-2009. Israel bombed it again in the summer of 2014. The message is clear: Israel may enjoy state-of-the-art solar power, but the Palestinians cannot have basic utilities.

Raytheon received $211.5 million for AMRAAM production for Japan, Kuwait, Poland, Indonesia, Qatar, Germany, Australia, and the UK.

FMS TO OTHER UNDEMOCRATIC REGIMES – FMS to undemocratic regimes, especially Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, is a massive part of the U.S. war industry’s profit margin.

AeroVironment Inc. received $9 million to provide Egypt with RQ-20B Puma AE II M3/M4 systems and support. Lockheed Martin received $7.7 million to provide Egypt with Arrowhead upgrade kits for its AH-64 helicopters.

DynCorp International received $17,037,225 for FMS (Egypt & Kuwait): aviation maintenance in support of U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command. Work will be in Germany, Honduras, and Kuwait. Independent media outlets have reported that DynCorp has mercenaries on the ground in Yemen, though DynCorp public relations officials deny this. Meanwhile, DynCorp public relations officials celebrate its work for the Egyptian regime as a big “win.”

Raytheon received $129.9 million for USA and FMS (Oman, Taiwan): TOW missiles.

Speegle Construction Inc. received $15,140,800 to build a FMS facility at Eglin AFB. FMS to many countries (including UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Turkey) were included on this contract because the facility in question will facilitate FMS to those nations and even host officials from those nations in due time.

RESULTS

A substantial portion of Foreign Military Sales during March and April 2018 involved undemocratic regimes, especially regular favorites of the U.S. war industry: the Zionist Entity [.pdf] and Saudi Arabia.

The record shows U.S. war industry complicity in all atrocities carried out by each of the aforementioned countries, not to mention the forces under the Pentagon’s control.

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Christian Sorensen, a Newsbud Contributing Author & Analyst, is a U.S. military veteran and independent journalist

**Sixty-three FMS contracts were issued during the months of March and April of 2018. These FMS contracts totaled $5,392,261,519, with each contract averaging $85.6 million. (FMS during January and February of 2018 totaled slightly more than $2.2 billion.) All of these estimates are very conservative. In cases where the distribution between FMS and U.S. allocations was unclear, this researcher rounded down all FMS figures.